Though it may sound overly dramatic, being in a stationary position for too long can have a detrimental effect on one’s health. It is too easy to ignore how your body and mind are hampered by a long day of stressful work. However, whether you acknowledge it or not, the resulting damage can be long-term.
In our busy lives, many of us turn out to be workaholics. What is a workaholic? Someone who prioritizes their work at the cost of other important things like sleep, spending time with friends and family, as well as indulging in hobbies.
Workaholics may seem like they are simply very productive. However, continuous hours of strenuous work can take a toll on one’s health. Stress and strain can lead to severe health conditions like anxiety, insomnia, headaches, indigestion, obesity, diabetes, poor circulation, and cardiovascular ailments.
This is where exercise yoga can be of immense help. Indeed, it can help you alleviate tension in your muscles and restore an overall sense of well-being and balance. Yoga is the answer to many health-related problems. For workaholics too, yoga offers valuable benefits. Yoga relieves stress, reduces blood pressure, boosts energy, and provides various other beneficial effects. You simply need to know how to utilize yoga effectively and properly.
When stress begins to prevent you from delivering your best, it is time to take action. There are different types of yoga practices that ensure strength and stability in today’s hectic schedule. Most importantly, for workaholics, it lets you breathe, focus, and find peace.
Benefits of Yoga For Workaholics
Here are some of the benefits of practicing yoga for workaholics:
Establishes A Mind-Body Connection
Yoga helps you build a strong connection between your mind and body. This aids you in achieving an overall sense of harmony and ease in your life. The result? Greater productivity and better motivation to perform in every sphere of your world.
Builds Bodily Awareness & Relaxation
If practiced correctly and regularly, yoga has a very soothing effect on your body. It reduces mental and physical tension as well as assists in keeping the body relaxed. Some poses that include forward bends and inversions calm the body. In particular, Restorative and Yin Yoga are amazing stress relievers. Additionally, yoga helps you become more aware of your body and respect and attend to its call.
Focuses On Your Breathing
Stress leads to rapid breathing which can aggravate your condition and invite more anxiety. Practicing yoga teaches you to breathe properly with your diaphragm and lungs. Some of the breathing techniques in yoga include humming bee breath, alternate nostril breathing, and the “victorious technique.”
Eliminates Negativity
Negative feelings like anger and fear often tend to get a good grip on workaholics due to their tight deadlines and busy schedule. These negative feelings accumulate to cause emotional pressure. Practicing certain yoga techniques like shoulder and hip poses can help you release this negativity from your body and mind.
Beneficial Yoga Poses For Workaholics
Here are some beneficial yoga poses for workaholics stuck with strenuous job roles:
Chair Twist
This pose requires you to twist your body to your full potential with the left foot and right foot alternately planted firmly on the ground.
Desk Scale
This pose needs you to hold on to the edge of your seat and try to lift yourself up while being seated. Keep the neck above the shoulders and this pose can strengthen your core unlike anything else.
Backbend
Hold the edge of your table and bend backward to your maximum capacity. It is an important exercise to help maintain your body balance and posture.
Desktop Stretches
This pose deals with raising both your arms and stretching them as much as you can. Turn to the right while stretching and make sure one side of the waist is completely compressed while the other side is stretched. Repeat alternatively.
Downward-Facing Dog
It is one of the most well-versed and renowned poses in yoga that helps fight lower back pain in your body. It also elongates the shoulders, strengthens the wrist, and facilitates smooth blood circulation.
Child’s Pose
This is a very relaxing pose and should be practiced regularly before going to bed. This pose is known to relax the thighs, hips, shoulders, neck, and ankles.
Cat Pose
This is a simple and gentle pose that teaches you to steadily inhale and exhale through the nose. It helps you to realign the hips and lower back and is also restorative and relaxing in nature.
Yoga Poses To Alleviate Wrist Pain for Workaholics
The wrist is made of 8 small carpal bones. These provide both stability and mobility. Pain in the wrists almost invariably extends and spreads beyond the wrist, and manifests in different parts of the hand. Carpal tunnel syndrome causes inflammation of the tendons and causes pain in the wrists and forearms. As our wrists are known to bear weight, wrist pains and injuries are frequent and common. The wrists go through a lot regularly, both while practicing yoga and during other daily activities.
Here are some essential poses to help deal with wrist pain and avoid injuries:
Wrist Rotation
Bring out your arms in front of you and press the back of your hands together. As the wrists keep touching, rotate the fingers downwards such that they face you, then upwards and away. Repeat it five times before reversing the direction.
Rotating Wrists
Grab one wrist with your hand and start to rotate your wrist in one direction and then in the other
Extended Arms
Extend your arms out in front of you. Bring your fingers together gently pull the fingers toward your body.
Palm Stretch
Turn your hand around and gently pull your fingers towards your body.
Magician Hands
Extend your arms straight in front of you, turn the palms down and spread your fingers wide. Turn your hands inwards and then outwards.
Table Wrist Stretch (two ways)
Come to table top pose. For variation one, turn your hands around so your fingers point to your knees. Now start to gently shift your hips back and forth. For variation two, turn your palms around so the back of your hand is on the mat. Gently put weight into that hand.
Using Yoga As A Solution
There is a solution to every problem if you are willing to search in the correct places. Whether you are a workaholic or not, yoga can help you a great deal in maintaining your health, fitness, and balance. Known for high levels of stress, workaholics can practice yoga to decrease adrenaline and cortisol levels in their bodies. Yoga helps you become more attentive and reciprocating toward your body’s needs. It makes you adopt a healthy lifestyle and assists in lowering stress considerably. Consider adding a yoga regiment to your daily activities and start reaping the benefits.
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